News and views of Constance Cumbey concerning "Radical Middle", New Age Movement, Communitarianism, "planetary humanism," "global governance," European Union, Javier Solana, Jeremy Rifkin, "New Age Politics," law in the USA, combined with life in general -- sometimes humorous, sometimes not!

AP: Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least 10 passengers in a predawn raid that set off worldwide condemnation and a diplomatic crisis.

Israel said its commandos were attacked by knives, clubs and live fire from two pistols wrested from soldiers after they rappelled from a helicopter to board one of the vessels.

Dozens of activists and at least 10 Israeli soldiers were wounded in the bloody confrontation in international waters.

Israel and Egypt offered to deliver humanitarian aid if flotilla agreed to sail into Port of Aston and allow their ship to be searched and cargo to be inspected and unloaded there.

According to Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, the activists obviously wanted to make some sort of political statement in breaking the naval blockade.

10 dead as Israeli commandos storm aid flotilla

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8714000/8714171.stm

_________________________________

A little "blast from the past"/ memory refresher here.

The anti-blockade message was part of the so-called "Gaza Freedom March" that Code Pink was involved with several months ago. It included people like Obama supoporter and fundraiser Jodi Evans, the self-professed witch named Starhawk, Van Jones, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn...________________

Code Pink organizer, Jodie Evans, used her personal contact with Suzanne Mubarak, wife of President Hosni Mubarak, and chairwoman of the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC), to appeal for permission for the Gaza Freedom March to carry its humanitarian aid into Gaza. The response from Mrs. Mubarak’s office was positive with instructions to “help in any way possible.”

After reviewing the details of the request, by the next day Mrs. Mubarak secured permission for 100 delegates and two buses to cross into Gaza on 30 December morning. Code Pink organizers were given only two hours to come up with a list of names.

The initial acceptance of the offer proved to be tactically divisive for both the Gaza Freedom March and for the Egyptian government. After raging internal arguments and Palestinian calls for “all or none,” the Gaza Freedom March belatedly, but wisely, decided to decline the offer and allow only Palestinians with family in Gaza, key media personnel such as a Telesur team, and a handful of individuals to deliver humanitarian aid to board the buses.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Mubarak’s intervention reportedly enraged Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit for having undermined his ministry’s monopoly over political decision-making on the Gaza border crossing. He, in turn, tried to drive a wedge through the Gaza Freedom March by praising those selected (falsely as if by the government) to go to Gaza as “good and sincere,” while denouncing those remaining in Cairo as “hooligans” “acting against Egyptian interests.” Fortunately, that divide-and-rule tactic only served to unify delegates....read more...

Oh, and speaking of witches, Code Pink’s Wiccan co-founder ( Starhawk ) took time off from her ‘dirt worship’ and made a rare visit to the front lines with he Code Pink partners to help Hamas from Cairo. You can read her reports which feature her Baby-Boomer angst and her disdain for protest chanting and fasting here......read entire article....

Fresh on the heels of their Hamas-protected trip to Gaza, the so-called feminist, American antiwar group Code Pink, co-founded by top Obama funder Jodie Evans, is running banner advertisements on the English language version of the official Web site of a terrorist sympathizing group, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of which invites the Muslim Brotherhood to “join us in cleansing our country.”The ad, titled “Arrest the War Criminals” with a subhead that contains the invitation to “join us in cleansing our country” links back to a Code Pink site that calls for the kidnapping of former President George W. Bush, his wife Laura and other former members of his administration through ‘citizens arrests’ for defending America against terrorists in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks by Al Qaeda....

.....A recent sympathetic article on the Muslim Brotherhood was published by the Christian Science Monitor.

Jodie Evans and Code Pink attempted to destabilize the Egyptian government by provoking a crisis last month over the government’s refusal to allow all 1362 ‘Gaza Freedom’ marchers to enter Gaza through Egypt.

It would appear that Jodie Evans and Code Pink found an ally in Egypt in their opposition to the Mubarak government.

This is how Jodie Evans repays the kindness showed by First Lady Suzanne Mubarak who came to Code Pink’s aid after Jodie Evans sent her a letter asking for help delivering the ‘humanitarian aid’ to Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Code Pink’s involvement with radical Islamic terrorists and terrorist sympathizers in the Middle East would be troubling enough without Jodie Evans’ close ties to President Barack Obama and his administration.

Does CIA Director Leon Panetta know that a close ally of the president he serves is asking a radical Muslim group with terrorist sympathies to join them in “cleansing our country”?...read more...

The United States is sending a succession of envoys to engage with Hamas but lacks the bravery to talk to the Islamist movement openly, its leader, Khaled Meshal, said in an interview with the Guardian.

Meshal praised President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia for meeting him in Damascus and the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, for hosting the discussion 10 days ago. He told Medvedev that the US was also talking to him. "I thanked him for that meeting and told him the Americans contact us, but are not brave enough to do so openly," said Meshal. "I am confident that in the very near future, everyone will realise that they will have to deal with Hamas."..read more...

boy is this exciting to me! We need Jesus and His reign something fierce. Darkness envelopes the earth in all too many ways. The birth pangs have begun, the dark prince is soon to be summoned. Things must run their course and we must remain fearless...,trusting the power of God's Love.allways in all ways as there is no other way. Knock and the door will open...witness to His Love...testify,tell everybody,...The Conqueror is on His way

Wikipedia has already posted a story about the Israeli interception of the flotilla while it was en route to Gaza.

I happened to notice that I made a mistake earlier when I wrote "Israel and Egypt offered to deliver humanitarian aid if flotilla agreed to sail into Port of Aston..."

That should have been "Port of Ashdod" and not "Aston." I was listening to an audio report instead of reading a written report. Sorry.

GAZA FLOTILLA CLASH

Events leading up to the clash

....The flotilla began its journey on Sunday 30 May 2010 from international waters off the coast of Cyprus, after the government of Cyprus refused to cooperate with the Free Gaza Movement, or allow activists to sail from its harbors, with the Cyprus Police stating that "anything related to the trip to Gaza is not permitted". The flotilla sailed after two days of delays, aiming to reach Gaza on Monday afternoon. The Israeli Navy made initial contact with the flotilla at 11 p.m. (23:00) on 30 May, 200 kilometres (120 mi) offshore in international waters, ordering the ships to follow them to port or otherwise be boarded.

The Israeli navy contacted the captain of the Mavi Marmara, asking him to identify himself and say where the ship was headed. Shortly after, two Israeli naval vessels flanked the flotilla on either side, but at a distance.

Just before the raid, the Israeli Navy again contacted the Mavi Marmara, warning it that it was approaching an "area of hostility which is under naval blockade", and telling it that it could instead dock in the Port of Ashdod, where the supplies would be delivered through the "formal land crossings" under the observation of activists, after which the fleet would be allowed to leave to their home ports. The Mavi Marmara replied "Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza"...read entire article...

Richard Falk, Ph.D., New Age activist extraordinaire since at least the 1970's is an UN rapporteur overseeing Israeli affairs 9UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Gaza Strip). He is demanding criminal prosecution of Israeli officials. He has long lent his academic credentials to the popularization and attempted bona fides of the New Age Movement. My dear friends, Dr. Wesley Gould (deceased) and his wife gave me much inside information about him.

Constance Cumbey said...Please update your browser. Dr. Wesley Gould, Ph.D. was one of my undergraduate professors. He and his wife Jean became great friends and supporters of my work against the New Age Movement. He was personally acquainted with Richard Falk for many years. Wesley was a Harvard Ph.D. and a brilliant scholar of international politics and law.

Please refresh your browser as I added a picture of the website where Falk calls for criminal prosecution of Israeli officials.

Here is something that is also interesting about Falk....namely, the response to his appointment in 2008 to a six-year term as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on "the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967."______________

According to a UN press release, then Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Itzhak Levanon said that the mandate of the Special Rapporteur was "hopelessly unbalanced," "redundant at best and malicious at worst."Referring to Falk's statement that it was not "an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with the criminalized Nazi record of collective atrocity," Levanon argued that "someone who had publicly and repeatedly stated such views could not possibly be considered independent, impartial or objective." He stated the council was "missing an opportunity" to lay "the groundwork for better cooperation with Israel."

Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, criticized Falk's appointment to the United Nations Human Rights Council, stating that "This is exactly why we voted against the new human rights council" and that "He was picked for a reason, and the reason is not to have an objective assessment — the objective is to find more ammunition to go after Israel."

Yitzhak Levanon, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, criticized Falk's appointment in an address to the council, stating: "He has taken part in a UN fact-finding mission which determined that suicide bombings were a valid method of 'struggle'. He has disturbingly charged Israel with 'genocidal tendencies', and accused it of trying to achieve security through 'state terrorism'. Someone who has publicly and repeatedly stated such views cannot possibly be considered independent, impartial or objective."

The Israeli government announced that it will deny Falk a visa to Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, at least until the September 2008 meeting of the Human Rights Council...read more...

Falk's "Israelis acting like Nazis" twaddle is being echoed by Hedy Epstein, a holocaust survivor and activist who has been invovled with the Free Gaza Movement._______________

An Anti-Defamation League report from the next year characterized Epstein's talk as an "example of anti-Israel campus activism" which "would meet both the United States government's and [Israeli cabinet] Minister Nathan Sharansky's definitions of anti-Semitism," for "comparing Nazi treatment of Jews to Israeli treatment of Palestinians." An online publication of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs cited Epstein's talk on the same subject at UCSC among "activities that spill over into various forms of hate-speech demonizing both Israelis and Jews," and which "compared Israel to a Nazi state and Israeli soldiers to Nazis." In 2008, the Missouri regional director for the Anti-Defamation League noted, "For someone like Hedy, who came out of the Jewish community at a very difficult time, to criticize Israel ... well, it's difficult. Some people perceive it as disloyal."

In August, 2008, Epstein planned to be on board the Free Gaza Movement's ship attempting to break Israel's naval "blockade" of Gaza, but had to cancel due to poor health.

In 2010, she was involved with the Gaza flotilla clash that was boarded by IDF forces and resulted in deaths......

On a hunch, I checked and sure enough, Richard Falk and Hedy Epstein both recently spoke before the UC Berkley Student Senate when they met to cast votes" to divest from companies that profit from the occupation."________________________

Second, the feeling on campus and in the room was electric. We filled an enormous room that fits 900. Most stayed through the entire night. If you can imagine, the evening started with remarkable statements by divestment supporters Judith Butler, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, Richard Falk, Hatem Bazian and George Bisharat. And then the extraordinary parade of students and community members who spoke on both sides of the issue until it was past sunrise....read entire article...

Did you know that they just built an Olympic size swimming pool on Gaza, that there is an affluent section of Gaza or that fine restaurants exist in Gaza? I didn't either as the coverage of Gaza is so slanted as to be a joke.

The flotilla could have docked and all "humanitarian" aid would have gone into Gaza after the stock was checked for weaponry.

Did you know that they just built an Olympic size swimming pool on Gaza, that there is an affluent section of Gaza or that fine restaurants exist in Gaza? I didn't either as the coverage of Gaza is so slanted as to be a joke.

The flotilla could have docked and all "humanitarian" aid would have gone into Gaza after the stock was checked for weaponry.

Anna Louise Strong is a cousin of Maurice Strong. She wrote the book "I Change Worlds." She was very active with the early Soviet movement.

http://sovereignty.net/p/sd/strong.html"According to Elaine Dewar, author of Cloak of Green. Strong is a Socialist. He was born into a family who worked to get out the vote for Prime Minister Mackenzie King, who in 1943 was promoting the National Council for Soviet-Canadian Friendship. Strong's cousin, Anna Louise Strong, was a Marxist, and a member of the Comintern, who spent two years with Mao and Chou En-lai. Her burial in China in 1970 was organized personally by Chou En-lai. Maurice is well received in China, partly because of his cousin's connections.[1]"

The word in the street is that "activist" Hedy Epstein is sitting in an Israeli jail.

Of Hedy Epstein, one Jewish blogger wrote in an article entitled THE SAD CASE OF HEDY EPSTEIN:

....It’s sad that Hedy Epstein is allowing herself to be used as a symbol by those like Milne, George Galloway and others who would be happy to see Israel– home for about half of the world’s Jews–disappear from the map.

Also distressing is that Ms. Epstein sits on the advisory board of the anti-Zionist group Deir Yassin Remembered, which is led by Holocaust deniers Daniel McGowan and Paul Eisen, both staunch defenders of imprisoned Hitler-lover and Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel (McGowan visited Zundel in prison). The Jew-hating Israel Shamir is a former board member. For this, Deir Yassin Remembered has been denounced even by anti-Zionists like Tony Greenstein and Sue Blackwell. Does Hedy Epstein know? Or care?

When I lived in Israel, I would sometimes see real Holocaust survivors on the buses, with their concentration camp numbers– somewhat faded but still visible– tattooed on their forearms. It’s deeply disturbing that Ms. Epstein– out of what I can only hope are misguided but decent motives– is in effect lending her support to a movement which only a few years ago was pleased to blow up those buses and everyone on them.....

http://hurryupharry.org/2010/01/07/the-sad-case-of-hedy-epstein/

Neo-Nazi propagandist Ernst Zundel was influenced by Savitri Devi who was the first to claim to Zündel that the Nazi genocide of the Jews was untrue.

"The Gaza Flotilla was a deliberate attempt to provoke Israel and the intention was to "kill Jews" in a martydom operation. We have provided a link that was translated by palwatch.org from Al Jazeera TV just before the operation took place as well as another link of video which shows the beating of soldiers which forced Israel to take forceful action.">> http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=2323>> http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk

The above was from an email I received. It came from a Christian friend. The main source she wrote was Walid Shoebat a former Palestinian terrorist with Hisbolah until the LORD YESHUA got a hold of him... now he is BORN AGAIN and SPIRIT FILLED Xtian.

Thought you might be interested in this information from Julien Frisch blog on the budget for the new EEAS of EU. I didn't realize this new division was going to be so large, and since it's duties look to be that of diplomacy, intelligence, military security and defense among others, I think it bears watching. I am also including the wiki link detailing the new division:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EEAS

Sunday, 30 May 2010European External Action Service - Budget & posts

According to a Council document forwarded from the Council Secretariat to the Council's budget committee, there is the need for a draft budget and a staff plan for the European External Action Service (EEAS) for 2010.

The proposed EEAS budget (this is a Council proposal, not a formal Commission proposal!) is an amendment to the 2010 EU budget and it is necessary to have it even before the EEAS is formally in place because:"there is a serious and real risk of major disruption of operations (including payments of salaries and other obligations), at headquarters and in delegations, which would be prejudicial for the reputation of the newborn EEAS."The figures (indicative as explained in the footnote!) can be seen on the bottom of page 6 of the document which shows that for 2010 the EEAS could have 1563 posts of which 411 come from the Council and 1114 from the Commission, 38 posts would be newly created. Of the 1563 EEAS people, 1082 would work in Brussels and 481 in delegations all around the world. A detailed split of the the 411 Council staff members is in the annex.

As you can see, the figures at present don't include any member states' diplomats because the EEAS is not in place yet. It also doesn't seem to involve much additional posts except for the 38 proposed.

However, this Council Secretariat's proposal gives quite a good indication on the possible dimensions of the new EEAS and the possible share of posts coming from the EU bureaucracies.

From what I am reading, it looks to me like the EEAS is being set up for the purpose of gaining greater financial AND political control over the greater EU - especially the Eurozone members - in the wake of the recent financial meltdown with little or no accountability to the EU Parliament. Check out the following from European Voice:

EUROPEAN COUNCIL

MEPs criticise EEAS proposal

By Toby Vogel

25.03.2010

Catherine Ashton's plans for diplomatic service deemed "not acceptable" to European Parliament.

Senior MEPs have criticised today's proposal by Catherine Ashton, theEU's foreign policy chief, on the new diplomatic service as “not acceptable” to the Parliament.

“Despite many contacts over the past weeks, the high representative has chosen not to take Parliament's views sufficiently into account,” five MEPs from the main political groups in the Parliament said in a statement. The group includes Elmar Brok, a German Christian Democrat, and Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the liberal ALDE group, who had presented a counter-proposal on Tuesday (23 March).

The Parliament has to agree to changes to the EU's financial and staff rules required for the new service to function properly. But It has no say on the decision establishing the European External Action Service (EEAS) drafted by Ashton, which only needs the backing of member states.

Martin Schulz, the leader of the social democrats in the Parliament, said: “If our demands are not met, we will not give the approval that is needed.”

In their statement, the five MEPs criticised the fact that the EEAS would not be politically accountable to the Parliament, a point on which Ashton had sought to reassure MEPs in her appearance before the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.

The MEPs also said that an “artificial separation” between policy-making and execution of the EU's development assistance would lead to problems. Under Ashton's proposal, the product of months of consultations with the European Commission and member states, strategic funding decisions would be made by the EEAS but executed by the Commission.

The statement also warned that the proposed organisational set-up would make the service's secretary-general “omnipotent”. Under Ashton's proposal, the secretary-general would be responsible for the day-to-day management of the EEAS, aided by two deputies.

In the MEPs' proposal, Brok and Verhofstadt had asked for three “political” deputies. The statement said: “What is needed are political deputies that can engage on [Ashton's] behalf with both Parliament and partners in thirdcountries.”

Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, called the proposal“a step in the right direction” but added, “we must discuss this muchmore”.

“I regret that the proposal that Ashton has delivered today does not take on board some of the points which are crucial for the Parliament,” Buzek said.

Speaking to reporters at the summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Buzek also said that the new diplomatic service had to seek geographical balance in recruiting officials.

Oxfam also criticised the proposal, calling Ashton's control over development policy “potentially bad news”. Elise Ford, the head of Oxfam's Brussels office, said that the proposal “risks making poverty objectives hostage to foreign policy goals.” She called on EU member states and MEPs to “rectify Ashton's misconception about what effective development policy is”.

She said that Andris Piebalgs, the European commissioner fordevelopment, needed to make funding decisions “on the basis of whereneeds and potential for impact are greatest” rather than according tothe EU's political and strategic objectives.

...am i very wrong, to try to close my ears, to the sounds they play so loud? am i very wrong???....the happiness machine is trying hard to sing my song!//// i can see the change a comin'...where the sour turns to sweet....i can feel the peace inside...the conqueror is on His way....the judgement day is coming

Mr. Herb Peters said that if the ENP(I) agreement were to be broken between the EU and Israel, it would probably occur at the semi-annual meeting of the Council of the European Union, in June 2010, which is scheduled for Thursday, 6/17/10. Conveniently, the WEU Assembly will hold its semi-annual plenary session 6/15-6/17 (overlapping one day, on the 17th).

On the day before the Gaza flotilla confronted the Israeli navy, Al-Jazeera TV documented the pre-battle atmosphere created by men on board the flotilla, who chanted a well-known Islamic battle cry invoking the killing and defeat of Jews in battle:"[Remember] Khaibar, Khaibar, oh Jews! The army of Muhammad will return!" (a reference to a seventh-century massacre of Jews by Muslims) along with songs of the mass-murderous “Palestinian intifada,” and saying “We are now waiting for one of two good things—to reach Gaza or to achieve martyrdom”; and even though, three days ago on May 29, organizers of the flotilla explicitly told Al Jazeera TV that they were aiming for a confrontation with Israel that would have maximum media coverage.

Two weeks ago I noticed that some 90% of the sypware/malware sources being identified by my pc security program(s) were coming from a single entity.

I swept my puter clean, and after two weeks, the percentage is now up to 100% from one single source.

The Rubicon Project

http://rubiconproject.com

The Rubicon Project's raised red fist hammering national sovereignty logo, coupled with their "manifesto", tell us all we need to know.

Growing at a whopping 25% annual rate, and bragging about their 650 billion information collection nodes, RP masquerades as an integrated technology advertising agency, which just happens to be in the business of buying up computer security firms while invading home PC's and collecting and profiling consumer information.

Here's some snippets from their website:

http://rubiconproject.com/manifesto/

"The REVV for publishers™ Data Intelligence technology features DataCore, which aggregates data from a full spectrum of third-party data providers, including data exchanges, behavioral, contextual, intent, search, geographical and demographic, as well as site user and page data to optimize publisher rates across inventory, and help data companies reach their customers and audiences."

"By plugging into the Rubicon Project’s platform, data providers are able to increase distribution of their data services to the massive audience of more than 500 million global unique users and transact with for ad networks, exchanges, publishers and audience rep firms."

"Because we are a company that stands behind the consumer’s right to 100% visibility and control over information collected about them, we provide an option to opt-out of our affinity profiling technology."

About Me

As an active Michigan lawyer, I practice my profession primarily in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties of Michigan, USA (248-253-0333). Sometimes I do work in my old "stomping grounds" of our State Capitol, Lansing, Michigan on administrative, state law related matters, as well. I've enjoyed active and stimulating careers in government, politics, law and as a published and translated author. In the past, I have worked for the Michigan House of Representatives, the Michigan State Senate, and the City of Highland Park, Michigan. I'm the author of the first major critical book about the New Age Movement, THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW: The New Age Movement and our Coming Age of Barbarism (1983); A PLANNED DECEPTION: The Staging of a New Age Messiah (1986). Currently, I'm completing a volume about Javier Solana, the Barcelona Process, Israel and the European Union. Email me cumbey@gmail.com.